Yet even in the sophisticated, densely researched works of Robert Putnam, Jane Jacobs and other social researchers and critics, I have found the word “neighborliness” popping up as an indispensible virtue to an orderly community.

My column-writing colleague Timothy Carney at The Washington Examiner linked a decline in “neighborliness” to the recent wave of stories about parents getting arrested for letting their children play alone.

For example, a mother in North Augusta, South Carolina was thrown in jail earlier this summer for leaving her 9-year-old daughter at a neighborhood park while she went to work nearby.

More recently, a Port St. Lucie, Florida mom was similarly charged after she allowed her 7-year-old son to walk a half-mile to a park alone.

Well-meaning people call the cops when they see a child without parents, writes Carney, but “neighborly adults look after other adults’ kids when the parents are unavailable.”

Indeed, that should concern all of us. Edmund Burke, the 18th-century father of modern conservatism, highlighted the importance of churches, trade groups, civic associations and other “little platoons” of civil society for providing the glue that holds a society together.

We see that glue coming apart in many of today’s social crises.

For example, in the recent surge in gun violence in Chicago, police complain of a lack of cooperation from witnesses in high-crime neighborhoods.

Yet witnesses, who have had bad experiences with some police officers on one hand and with gangbangers on the other, often feel too stranded and intimidated to get involved.

New-wave methods like Community Policing help, largely because they aim to restore the neighborly rapport that the old-school “cop on the beat” had with residents.

California Gov. Jerry Brown cited a different version of neighborliness as he tried to calm tensions over the recent crisis of thousands of young, unaccompanied refugees from Central American illegally crossing our southern border.

Speaking to reporters in Mexico City on Monday, Brown, who once studied to be a Jesuit priest, called on clergy and others to heed the “religious call ... to welcome the stranger.”

Yet welcoming the stranger is a tall order when the arrival of a new diversity of people and cultures challenges a community’s traditional notions of itself.

The anxiety and frustration calls for more than the traditional liberal answers, such as more day care and higher wages, which are largely out of reach in today’s political climate anyway.

That’s why I am intrigued by the new ideas offered by some aspiring conservative Republican presidential hopefuls.

The detailed antipoverty plan offered by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin last week offers some highly debatable ideas. But at least he shows some appreciation for the little platoons.

Unfortunately, his plan to combine 11 different anti-poverty programs into a single funding stream is complicated. Liberal critics fear it will reduce funding to help those who need it most.

But on the plus side, the plan recognizes the importance of neighborliness. It would distribute funds through nonprofits and public agencies that would work closely with recipients to help them organize their financial plans.

Robert Woodson, founder of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and an advisor to Ryan on poverty issues, offered a simpler suggestion: “charitable tax credits.”

Taxpayers could cut out middle men and women and receive a full credit from their income taxes for contributions to an approved list of community-based non-profits that show a good track record of results.

Ideas like that won’t solve all of our social problems, but at least they would help build good neighbors.

<p>There's a hidden side to today's poverty debate that traditional politicians on the left and right too often overlook or undervalue: the decline in neighborliness.</p><p>Perhaps the word strikes your ear as too quaint, simplistic or old-fashioned for an era as sophisticated and raucous as this one.</p><p>Thoughtful debates tend to prefer more high-toned terms such as “social capital,” “community cohesion” or “civil virtue.”</p><p>Yet even in the sophisticated, densely researched works of Robert Putnam, Jane Jacobs and other social researchers and critics, I have found the word “neighborliness” popping up as an indispensible virtue to an orderly community.</p><p>My column-writing colleague Timothy Carney at The Washington Examiner linked a decline in “neighborliness” to the recent wave of stories about parents getting arrested for letting their children play alone.</p><p>For example, a mother in North Augusta, South Carolina was thrown in jail earlier this summer for leaving her 9-year-old daughter at a neighborhood park while she went to work nearby.</p><p>More recently, a Port St. Lucie, Florida mom was similarly charged after she allowed her 7-year-old son to walk a half-mile to a park alone.</p><p>Well-meaning people call the cops when they see a child without parents, writes Carney, but “neighborly adults look after other adults' kids when the parents are unavailable.”</p><p>I'm not alone in detecting deeper social anxieties at work here.</p><p>“We're arresting parents,” observed Michael Brendan Dougherty of “The Week” magazine, “because civil society is retreating from children altogether.</p><p>Indeed, that should concern all of us. Edmund Burke, the 18th-century father of modern conservatism, highlighted the importance of churches, trade groups, civic associations and other “little platoons” of civil society for providing the glue that holds a society together.</p><p>We see that glue coming apart in many of today's social crises.</p><p>For example, in the recent surge in gun violence in Chicago, police complain of a lack of cooperation from witnesses in high-crime neighborhoods.</p><p>Yet witnesses, who have had bad experiences with some police officers on one hand and with gangbangers on the other, often feel too stranded and intimidated to get involved.</p><p>New-wave methods like Community Policing help, largely because they aim to restore the neighborly rapport that the old-school “cop on the beat” had with residents.</p><p>California Gov. Jerry Brown cited a different version of neighborliness as he tried to calm tensions over the recent crisis of thousands of young, unaccompanied refugees from Central American illegally crossing our southern border.</p><p>Speaking to reporters in Mexico City on Monday, Brown, who once studied to be a Jesuit priest, called on clergy and others to heed the “religious call ... to welcome the stranger.”</p><p>Yet welcoming the stranger is a tall order when the arrival of a new diversity of people and cultures challenges a community's traditional notions of itself.</p><p>The anxiety and frustration calls for more than the traditional liberal answers, such as more day care and higher wages, which are largely out of reach in today's political climate anyway.</p><p>That's why I am intrigued by the new ideas offered by some aspiring conservative Republican presidential hopefuls.</p><p>The detailed antipoverty plan offered by Rep. Paul Ryan of Wisconsin last week offers some highly debatable ideas. But at least he shows some appreciation for the little platoons.</p><p>Unfortunately, his plan to combine 11 different anti-poverty programs into a single funding stream is complicated. Liberal critics fear it will reduce funding to help those who need it most.</p><p>But on the plus side, the plan recognizes the importance of neighborliness. It would distribute funds through nonprofits and public agencies that would work closely with recipients to help them organize their financial plans.</p><p>Robert Woodson, founder of the Center for Neighborhood Enterprise and an advisor to Ryan on poverty issues, offered a simpler suggestion: “charitable tax credits.”</p><p>Taxpayers could cut out middle men and women and receive a full credit from their income taxes for contributions to an approved list of community-based non-profits that show a good track record of results.</p><p>Ideas like that won't solve all of our social problems, but at least they would help build good neighbors.</p><p>Page is a Chicago Tribune columnist. Email him at cpage@tribune.com.</p>